Story posted Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Central Edges North Division, 7-6
By STEPHEN GORDON Correspondent
The all-star game between the Chicago Metropolitan High School Hockey North Division all-stars and the Central Division all-stars did not exactly start like your typical all-star game. But the finish proved what all-star games are truly about: high scoring and fast action. The Central all-stars held on for a 7-6 win Sunday evening at West Meadows Ice Arena in Rolling Meadows.
"I think we got up 2-0 early but then we had a couple of defensemen that I normally play with who were out of position and that's when we kinda lost it," North Division all-star forward John Scully (St. Viator) said. "I think we were also still getting used to each other since we had no practice before this game."
Things did start out well for the North Division as they took a 1-0 lead with 15:18 left in the opening period on a power play goal from Stevenson forward Greg Rachke with the assist going to Brian Keefe (St. Viator). The North Division upped their lead to 2-0 with 4:37 left in the opening frame when Stevenson forward Sean Hammond beat Metro Central goalie Eric Bartos with a low wrist shot off a feed from Rachke.
The goal seemed to wake up the Central all-stars and the North all-stars were on their heels.
The North did not score their next goal until the 16:21 mark of the third period as the Central all-stars scored the next four goals in a row to take a 4-2 lead with :25 seconds left in the second frame. The victim of the Central all-star barrage of goals was St. Viator goaltender Dante Koppen (19 saves) who was helpless at times against the Central Division offense.
"I think our chances came too little too late tonight even though we did make it interesting at the end," said Keefe, who along with teammate Scully were named to the Amateur Hockey Association of Illinois (AHAI) all-state team this week. "But it's always an honor to play in a game like this because it shows the quality of your program and how it has progressed during the year."
The North Division all-stars got to within one goal at 4-3 when Keefe scored with 16:21 left in regulation off a feed from Scully. But then the Central all-stars added two more to make it 6-3 with 13:46 left in regulation.
"I was a little surprised we gave up that many goals so early on," Stevenson forward Greg Rachke said. "But our coaches told us to stick with it and keep fighting and we finally got back into the game late, just a little too late."
The North Division outscored the Central Division 3-1 over the last 2:33 of the final period on goals by Parker Tuefel of Lake Forest, St. Viator defenseman Mike Obenauf and a power play goal by Scully with :11 seconds left. The North did not take a penalty in the entire game while the Central all-stars were whistled for six minor penalties with the North going 3 for 6 on the power play.
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